Sunday, July 1, 2012

Hollywood Rehab (Part 10)

Lately, when my parents visited, they took me to the outdoor
patio for lunch.It was a nice break
from the rehab routine.Generally, my
mother fed me my lunch, which was way better than having an aide do it.I was gradually getting used to the idea that
I wasn’t going to be able to feed myself anymore.Dr. Greenly did another physical exam where
he put his hand on my biceps and felt for a twitch, but there was nothing
there.We continued doing electrical
stimulation in occupational therapy, but it still wasn’t enough for me to do any
real, coordinated arm movements.

Today I was eating chicken and mashed potatoes.My mother had cut the chicken into small
pieces for me and was leisurely feeding it to me while we talked.They had attached a cup to my wheelchair and
I had a long straw so that I could take sips whenever I wanted.

“The construction to the house is coming along really well,”
Mom told me.“We should be done within
the month.I’m so excited about having
you home, Nicky.”

“Me too,” I said.Which was mostly true.I wanted
to go home, but I was also nervous.While I was in rehab, everything still felt temporary.Once I went home, that would make it real.

We were quiet for a little while as Mom fed me and Dad
messed around with his Blackberry.My
father was always busy, always doing like three things at once.It was actually sort of amazing he came here
to visit me, but it was mostly because he worked the whole time.He basically never looked up from his
Blackberry and took about a dozen calls during every visit.I knew I had to get his attention and bring
up Savannah’s requests, but I didn’t know how.

“Hey, are you casting for Water High?” I asked Dad, out of
nowhere.

Dad looked up from his Blackberry and gave me a weird look.I used to be really interested in his movies
when I was a kid and always used to tag along with him on his trips to the sets,
but that stopped when I become a teenager.These days, I never asked him about his movies or expressed any interest
in what he did.“Yeah,” he said, his big
bushy eyebrows narrowing at me.My
father was the hairiest man in Hollywood.

“You know who would be great for the part of Rita?” I said,
already feeling really lame.“Savannah.”

Dad’s bushy eyebrows shot up.“You mean your girlfriend?”

I felt my cheeks getting hot.“Yeah.”

My parents exchanged looks.I knew they were thinking she was using me, but that wasn’t true at
all.I mean, it wasn’t Savannah’s fault
that she also cared about her career.If
there was something I could do to help her, then it seemed like as her
boyfriend, I ought to do it.

“So,” I said, clearing my throat.“Do you think she could get an audition?”

Dad sighed really loudly.If I were anyone else but his son, he’d have said no.But he always had a lot of trouble saying no
to me.“Can the girl act?”

“Sure,” I lied.

“Well, then, she should get an audition,” Mom spoke up,
nudging my father.He grumbled and
nodded.Even though my father ran a
billion dollar company, it was amazing how my mother still made a lot of the
important decisions.

I wanted to ask for the collagen injections next, but the
words stuck in my throat.Not that my
parents had anything against plastic surgery.My mother was 48 and looked ten years younger, thanks to Botox and a
facelift.You just can’t live in this
town and not succumb to plastic surgery.

But I knew what they’d think if I asked for money for
Savannah to get her collagen.They’d
think she was definitely using me, even though that wasn’t the case.I could see how it would seem that way to a
person who didn’t know us, but the truth was that Savannah was broke.It wasn’t unreasonable to ask her rich
boyfriend to help her out.

“Nick, honey,” Mom said.She’d been holding a fork in front of my mouth and I hadn’t even
noticed.“Are you okay?Not hungry anymore?”

“I guess not,” I said.

Mom removed the napkin she’d tucked into my collar and wiped
my lips.I felt anxious about what I was
going to tell Savannah.I’d become
really scared by the idea of her leaving me.After all, if she left me, what chance did I have of ever getting
another girlfriend again?

*******

Jane had been doing my aggressive stretching of my arms and
legs.The muscle tone was getting really
bad and they’d already started me on a medication for it.The medication did nothing, as far as I could
tell, besides make me tired.Right now,
Jane was trying to stretch out my hands, and my fingers were refusing to go
straight anymore.

My legs were even more of an annoyance.When someone moved them, they would start
jumping on their own.Before Jane could
strap me into my wheelchair, we had to wait a good minute for the muscle spasms
to stop.It didn’t hurt, but I still
hated it.

“I’m going to talk to Dr. Greenly about increasing your baclofen
for spasms,” Jane told me, as she straightened my fingers against hers.“And I’m going to have to make you a new
splint.You’re starting to get some skin
breakdown.”

She showed me the red areas on my knuckles.I knew my healing ability was shit, so
getting a sore would be really bad for me.But I hated the idea of increasing my medication.It really knocked me out.

“I’m fine,” I said.“I don’t need more meds.”

As if on cue, Jane brushed against my leg and it started
jumping like I was trying to dance or something.“I disagree,” she said.“If the tone gets really bad in your legs,
you can dislocate your hip.Or not be
able to wear shoes anymore.And you see
what it’s doing to your arms.”

“It makes me really tired though,” I complained.

“Well,” Jane said thoughtfully.“There’s a pump that we could surgically
implant in your abdomen that would deliver baclofen directly to your spinal
cord.That would help a lot with the
spasms in your legs.What do you think?”

So these were my options.Another surgery to put a pump in my spine, a medication that knocked me
out, or horrible spasms.“Fine, just
increase the medication,” I mumbled.

“That’s m’boy,” Jane said, winking at me.

She kept stretching my hand out and it made me think of how
long it had been since a woman held my hand for real.Savannah never touched my hands, and I didn’t
really blame her.I liked watching Jane
massaging and stretching my hands though.I could almost imagine the soft feel of her skin against mine.Even though Jane was really strong, her hands
seemed somehow delicate.

“Don’t worry,” Jane said.“Your parents will probably get you some awesome therapists to stretch
you out at home.I bet you’ll do fine.”

“So you won’t stretch me out anymore?” I asked.

As soon as I said it, I blushed.I didn’t want Jane to get the idea that I was
flirting with her.

The awkward silence was broken by Savannah's entrance into
the room.Whatever else you can or can't
say about that girl, she sure knows how to make an entrance.She came in, her blond hair shiny and loose
down her back, her face carefully painted to make her appear as if she was
wearing no make-up at all, and her perfume overpowering.She was really beautiful and it made me wish
more than anything that she wouldn't dump me.

Jane ignored Savannah’s presence, but I could hear the
irritation in her voice.“All right,
Nick.Let’s practice doing a weight
shift now.”

I was supposed to do weight shifts every thirty minutes to keep
from getting a pressure sore.There was
a button near my head that I pressed, and the entire seat would tilt back in
space so that I’d be staring up at the ceiling.I had to stay that way for about two minutes.

“Can’t you do that later?” Savannah said.“I just got here.”

Jane straightened up and stared at Savannah, looking pissed
off."Savannah, we're in the middle
of a therapy session.If you're not
willing to be part of the session, I'd like you to wait outside."

"I won't be a bother," Savannah said, smiling
sweetly."I just had a little
question for Nicky."

She didn't have to ask me the question.She gave me a stern look and I knew what she
wanted to know."You got the
audition," I said.

Savannah's eyes brightened for a moment, then she said,
"And what about the collagen?"

I tried to smile."But you got the audition.I
mean, isn't that the most important thing?"

"I suppose," she said thoughtfully.Then she added, "If I get the part."

"You will," I assured her, even though I thought
there wasn't much chance of her actually getting the part.I mean, if she was up against Miley Cyrus,
what chance did she actually have?But
I’d work on making her understand, and maybe some other role would come up in
the meantime.

"Okay," Savannah said, somewhat placated, although
I knew she wasn't going to let me off the hook just yet."I'll come back later, I guess.Goodbye, Nick.Bye, Jean."

Jane didn't bother to correct her.But when Savannah was gone, I could barely
bring myself to look at Jane.When I
did, she looked outraged.I actually
felt a little physically scared of this skinny girl.Not that I could defend myself against anyone
anymore.

"What the fuck was that about, Nick?" Jane asked
me.

"No big deal," I mumbled."Savannah wanted a part in one of my
dad's movies.It's pretty reasonable, I
think."

"And she wanted you to pay for plastic surgery?"
Jane spat.

"I guess," I mumbled."Anyway, I'm not doing it."

"Don't you have any fucking respect for yourself?"

"I guess I don't."At first I was embarrassed that Jane caught me, but now I started to get
angry.Who the fuck was she to tell me
that I couldn't help Savannah with her career?That wasn't such an awful thing."This isn't any of your business, Jane."

Jane narrowed her eyes at me."You're right.It isn't."

And after that, she didn't mention it again.I was worried she was going to be huffy for
the rest of our session but she wasn't.She just acted like the whole thing didn't happen.

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